Strawberry Shortcake

After a month of many birthdays, May is finally over. June is pretty slow as far as that goes. Of course there is MY birthday, but I don't make myself a cake so nothing to do there. Last week, my friends, Brooke and Charley and I celebrated Brooke's birthday by hanging out and having dinner and playing a fun (meaning I won) game of Settlers of Catan. We then topped it off with Strawberry Shortcake. Brooke always asks for some type of strawberry cake every year and I happily oblige. We realized that we have been friends for 9 years now which is a lot of birthdays!

It was kind of crazy thinking of the fact that I moved to California 9 years ago! Brooke and Charley actually met in my dining room over a game of Settlers and we used to play constantly. We were in school at the time and life looked vastly different than it does now. Now we are hard working professionals rather than hopeful college students and there was a baby to put down before we could play Settlers. Wow, it makes me feel old. Well, that and the fact that I am turning 36 a week from today. I will soon be closer to 40 than 30. Oi vey! Where are the years going?!?

Anyway, back to Strawberry Shortcake. This isn't traditional Strawberry Shortcake, it is a "layer cake" it is pretty much the same thing, just assembled differently. The trick is making it look good. Layering strawberries in between each layer makes it hard to not slide all over the place. And the frosting is  a cross between whipped cream and butter cream. It is stable enough to frost a cake but pretty light and fluffy so it is hard to do any precise piping or anything so I don't even try and just go with the "homemade" look. It is delicious though, perfect for the summer!

Strawberry “Shortcake” Layer Cake:

Cake

2 cups sugar

2 sticks of butter, at room temperature

2 eggs

1 Tbs. vanilla bean paste

2 1/2 cups cake flour

1 tsp. salt

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vinegar

Frosting:

1 8 oz.  pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2 cups heavy whipping cream

Strawberry Filling:

4 cups strawberries

¼ cup sugar

1/8 cup lemon juice

Cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter, beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition. Sift together flour and salt. Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Blend in vanilla. In a small bowl, combine baking soda and vinegar and add to mixture. Pour batter into two 9 inch  round pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from heat and cool completely. Slice each cake in half so that there are four layers.

Frosting:

Combine the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract and almond extract in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment and mix on medium speed until smooth. While the mixture is still whipping, slowly pour in the heavy cream. Stop and scrape the bottom of the bowl a couple of times while you continue whipping until the cream can hold a stiff peak.

Strawberry Filling:

Slice strawberries and add lemon juice and sugar. Let sit overnight for the flavors to meld.

Assembly:

Spread a thin layer of frosting over the 1^st layer of cake. Pipe a border of frosting around the edge to hold the strawberries inside. Spoon the strawberry mixture inside. Put the next layer of cake on top and repeat the steps. Once completely assembled, frost the entire cake.